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Department of Justice
Washington, August 17, 1871

Hon.Wm.W.Belknah
Secretary of War
Sir, [[Stamp]] The National Archives of the United States [[/Stamp]]
The joint resolution
of July 26, 1866 (14 U.S. Stat.,367-8),
fines the fee of agents or attorney
for collecting the bounty to colored soldiers and their wives, widows or heirs, and provides for the punishment of any agent or at-torney who shall charge a greater sum for such services.

Your letter of the 15th inst. requests my opinion upon the question, whether the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, when it collects such claims, may retain for the Government the fees their prescribed, if the claimant so requests.